The aim of the program is to further develop and maintain at Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, a facility and organization, i.e. a Center, that will accommodate and encourage through collaborative efforts of the faculties of Tulane University and Universidad del Valle high-quality research and research experience in the health-related sciences, including the organization, administration, delivery, and evaluation of health services. The major areas of research activity are in nutrition, infectious diseases with emphasis on parasites and arthropod vectors, and in social and behavioral sciences, the individual research studies being largely collaborative and often interdisciplinary. In the further development of the Center, its special advantages with respect to geographic, climatic, and sociological conditions and circumstances peculiar to the area will continue to be examined and strengthened as specific elements of the program's structure, for the purpose of offering American biomedical scientists and other health specialists the opportunity to gain research experience and special knowledge of the health problems peculiar to the region and the factors which give rise to them, and to encourage participation in the search for solutions to these problems, the ultimate goal of the program being to increase the body of scientific information and at the same time to increase the number of biomedical scientists and health specialists who have a firm knowledge of the health problems of the region, have demonstrated their capabilities and gained confidence in themselves as international health workers, and have acquired a lasting interest in the assessment and solution of international biomedical problems through research.